Seminar 20.1.2015: Engagement in Learning

Welcome to Siltavuorenpenger in January to hear about engagement in learning. Our guest speakers, Barbara Schneider and Joseph Krajcik, from Michigan State University and professors Lavonen and Salmela-Aro are collaborators in the SAVI EAGER project. The joint project focuses on how teachers use information about student engagement obtained through smart phone technology to make formative decisions regarding classroom instruction. At the event, Schneider and Krajcik will introduce their current research after which there will be time for audience questions and discussion. Welcome!

Barbara Schneider is the John A. Hannah Chair and University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. Dr. Schneider is the principle investigator of the College Ambition Program (CAP), a study that tests a model for promoting a STEM college-going culture in 13 high schools that encourages adolescents to pursue STEM majors in college and occupations in these fields. She is also co-principal investigator of the Michigan Consortium for Educational Research (MCER), a collaboration between the Michigan Department of Education, Michigan State University, and the University of Michigan created to assess the implementation and impact of two key reforms in Michigan that were designed to work in tandem to promote college attendance and workplace success. Dr. Schneider also worked for 18 years at the University of Chicago, holding positions as a Professor in Sociology and Human Development and as a senior researcher at NORC. Currently she continues to hold an appointment as a senior fellow at NORC, where she is the principal investigator of the Center on Advancing Research in Communication (ARC) in Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Her research focuses on how the social contexts of schools and families influence the academic and social well being of adolescents as they move into adulthood. Professor Schneider has published 15 books and over 100 articles and reports on family, social context of schooling, and sociology of knowledge. She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University. She also currently serves as Past President of the American Educational Research Association.

Joseph Krajcik is director of the CREATE for STEM Institute and a faculty member in science education. A former high school chemistry and physical science teacher, Krajcik spent 21 years at the University of Michigan before coming to Michigan State University (MSU) in 2011. During his career, he has focused on working with science teachers to reform science teaching practices to promote students’ engagement in and learning of science. He was principal investigator on a National Science Foundation project that aims to design, develop and test the next generation of middle school curriculum materials to engage students in obtaining deep understandings of science content and practices. He is currently serving as head of the Physical Science Design Team to develop the Next Generation Science Standards. Krajcik, along with Professor Angela Calabrese Barton from MSU, serves as co-editor of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching. Krajcik has authored and co-authored curriculum materials, books, software and over 100 manuscripts, and makes frequent presentations at international, national and regional conferences. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has served as president of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), from which he received the Distinguished Contributions to Science Education Through Research Award in 2010.